REPRESENTATIONS OF THE WORLD AXIS IN THE JAPANESE AND THE ROMANIAN CULTURE

• Authors: Maria Renata Rusu
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The purpose of this paper is to briefly present some of the forms the world axis takes in Japanese and Romanian cultures through the ages, namely, to show how a mythological concept – the axis mundi – has outlived its mythological existence and has survived up to modern days. We do not intend to concentrate on similarities or differences, but simply present some of the many culture-specific representations of this universal mythological concept: world axis representations in modern Japanese festivals (of which we have chosen three, to represent “pillar torches”: “the Sakaki sacred tree”, “the sacred mountain”, and “the sacred pillar”) and some world axis representations in Romanian culture, such as the fir tree, symbols related to dendrolatry, wooden crosses placed at crossroads, the ritual of climbing mountains, etc.

Keywords

EN

axis mundi; myth; representation; culture

• Publisher: Inter Litteras Research Centre, STEFAN CEL MARE University, Suceava, Romania; STEFAN CEL MARE Publishing House
• Journal: Concordia Discors vs Discordia Concors: Researches into Comparative Literature, Contrastive Linguistics, Cross-Cultural and Translation Strategies
• Year: 2010
• Volume: 2
• Pages: 207-219

Contributors

author

Maria Renata Rusu

• Japan Foundation Fellow 2009 – 2010 Handa City, Japan